question about signature after certification

[ThymeRN]

Hey Everybody! I'm so excited, I've been reading this forum for years. You guys/gals are so knowledgeable, thanks for the help you have provided to this lurker.

So yesterday, I passed the ANCC test for PMH nursing. That was one of the hardest tests I've ever taken (for reference, I thought NCLEX was easy). I've been studying since November and finally had enough CEU's to qualify to take it. So now I'm Thyme RN-BC.

I've worked with another nurse, now retired, who was also an RN-BC, but when she signed paperwork, she signed RetiredNurse RNC.

I want to make sure I sign correctly, HR has no clear answers, my unit manager came from academia and isn't sure, I can't find anything on the BON. So please share your knowledge with me, and help clarify this (in the grand scheme of things) bit of minutia for me.

Thanks,

Thyme RN-BC

[llg, PhD, RN]

Are you 100% sure that your friend was certified through ANCC? And how long ago?

Each organization has it's own way of designating those who get certified through them. Some organizations use the RNC designation. I believe that at this time all ANCC certifications use the RN-BC format. So that is the one you should use. Your friend may have been certified through another organization that used another format and/or she may have been certified prior to ANCC's standardization of its credentials designation.

If you are RN-BC ... then that is what you should use regardless of what your friend did.

And congratulations! Good job! (I just renewed my certification with ANCC for another 5 years last week.)

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

It was RN-C back in 98 when I certified with ANCC, IIRC.

have no idea when it changed.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

ANCC changed their alphabet soup in the early 2000's, I think. After I took my dreaded certification exam, I started as RN-C, but got a letter that they'd changed it to RN-BC at some point back then.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I asked the ANCC about this once: you sign RN-BC.

Yet my ID says RNC. Go fig.

[ThymeRN]

Thanks everybody for sharing your information. It makes sense now, the lady I worked with originally got her certification in the early 2000s. So she would have had the RNC, and just continued signing that way.

ThymeRN-BC